VIERA, Fla. — Though they've been fortunate not to suffer any injuries of consequence so far in big-league camp this spring, the Nationals are dealing with several nagging issues that have thinned the ranks at workouts the last few days.

The Nationals consider none of the ailments significant at this point and all were held out more for precautionary reasons than anything, according to manager Davey Johnson, who said he made the decisions to hold them out.

"I would just rather [take one] step back, [then] take two steps forward rather than keep plodding along," Johnson said. "And that was strictlyRead more »

Nice, how scary are $126M back spasms?Zuckerman seems to have a new post rolling out whenever the comments start to get negative (and relaistic) on Desmond's inadequacies, btw. No wodner Mark's been so active lately.

Anybody wishing for Jesus Colome's return must not have been to many games in person. He pitched like he was trying to snare the title 'Human Rain Delay' away from Mike Hargrove. Having seen both of them play in person, I can attest to the fact that there wasn't much difference. We used to time Colome from pitch-to-pitch, there wasn't much else to do.

@3:26: lmao!!! The schedule you describe would resemble "Every hour, on the hour"…. Everybody saying its make or break, for Desi this year, is absolutely right! Even as Lead Desi Booster, I have to admit that. If he's not playing well O&D by ASB, we'll prolly see Lombo. If he's not one of the better SSs in the league, by season's end, it'll be a little the Rendon picture will look a little clearer. The thing is, even if he plays his hiney off, it may just serve to enhance his ultimate trade value. THAT'S how much infield talent we have on the verge, in the next couple of years. After all, Werth, Zim, Stras, Zimnn, Gio, Rendon, Harper… It won't be possible to extend EVERYbody for big $$ 5 years from now… I'm getting high, just thinking about it…..mmmmmm….

"It won't be possible to extend EVERYbody for big $$ 5 years from now…"Desmond is a turnover guy – one of those middle of the roadish talent-wise players that you eventually trade to bring in fresh meat. He's not good enough for a large or long contract extension and not bad enough to simply release. Teams get into trouble by keeping guys like Desmond too long.

Sec 3, what's the deal with the shuffling avatar picture thingys? I hate to ask to have things explained and force you to make me feel like a moron, but I'll take that risk for both of us.FWIW – I miss the typing monkey.FYI – I killed my logo picture thing in a paranoid attempt to keep Google from controlling my every thought.

Werth, Zim, Stras, Zimnn, Gio, Rendon, Harper…Hague, Kobernus, and Hood are in that "wave" with Rendon.Next wave has Freitas, Taylor, Keyes, and Skole. But with the Solis surgery the pitching situation could get kind of dire. They may have to send Lannan with Maya to Syracuse as veteran depth. Lannan will likely ask to be traded though … hopefully, Bradley Meyers gets returned to the Nats and Rosenbaum replaces Milone in Syracuse.

Hopefully Laroche and Werth are alright, but it seems that every single major injury begins with assurances that it's "just a minor ailment" and/or "we're holding him out of workouts as a precaution; if this was a regular season game he'd be on the field". Patterson, Hill, Laroche (last year), Zimmerman, etc.

fwiw2, I also miss the typing monkey. And I don't think you're paranoid, Sunderland.Sunderland said… Sec 3, what's the deal with the shuffling avatar picture thingys? I hate to ask to have things explained and force you to make me feel like a moron, but I'll take that risk for both of us. FWIW – I miss the typing monkey. FYI – I killed my logo picture thing in a paranoid attempt to keep Google from controlling my every thought. February 29, 2012 4:30 PM

In other news, was waiting for my husband to finish at the gym, so I picked up a copy of ESPN (the magazine) that was lying around. Very interesting piece on A's pitcher Brandon McCarthy and sabermetrics.